New Artist In Town You Can Meet Spokane’s New Arts Director Karen Mobley, And View Some Of Her Artwork
If you haven’t yet met Karen Mobley, who moved here from Wyoming last June to become Spokane’s new city arts director, now’s the perfect opportunity.
One method of “meeting” Mobley would be to view a display of her charcoal drawings, pastel drawings and paintings in the Art Gallery at Auntie’s Bookstore Friday to the end of the month.
Other, more personal exchanges can come about by attending a reception in her honor from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at Auntie’s, or during two poetry readings this month: from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Nov. 15, at Auntie’s, Main and Washington, and at 5 p.m. Nov. 16, at Mootsy’s Bar, 960 E. Sprague.
In her undergraduate work, Mobley gave equal weight to art and writing. But, as so often happens, the scales tipped to art because of those around her who guided her talent.
Once again, however, “I consider them to be of equal importance,” she said.
Mobley is anxious to show the Spokane arts community that she is a peer rather than just an administrator, ensconced in an office, buried in paper work, bouncing from meeting to meeting.
“A lot of people I’ve met want to know what I do,” she said. “I want to answer their questions of ‘Who is this person?”’
The exhibit and readings will also demonstrate that she, like many artists, has a day job to pay the bills, and paints and writes in her off hours to feed her artistic soul.
During her readings, Mobley will reveal other compartments of her life through her book of personal poetry, “Prairie Wind Winter.”
Anyone who ever enjoyed a loving relationship with a grandparent will appreciate much of Mobley’s book, illustrated so graphically with her charcoal drawings.
Of her grandmother, she wrote:
I remember her as a woman
who wore her hair long
and up in a roll
on the back of her head.
She wore calico dresses
practical shoes
slacks for picnics.
She had God on her mind
and a worn bible
held together with a wide rubber band.
She sewed on a treadle,
made beautiful quilts,
and doll clothes. …
Other poems in the small book, more difficult and dark, make for compelling reading. To hear them read aloud by the author should be a mesmerizing experience.
Her art pieces at Auntie’s will include selections from three bodies of work, completed during the past five years: “The Shape Inventory Project,” “Prairie Wind Winter” and “Some Thoughts on Water.”
Mobley’s resume of exhibitions is daunting. Her works have been widely displayed throughout Western United States from Texas to New Mexico to Wyoming to Montana to Colorado, as well as in Mexico and North Carolina.
In Spokane art galleries
Two of Spokane’s premiere art influences - sculptor Dorothy Fowler and the Douglas Gallery - are joining forces.
Fowler, whose bronze sculptures are in galleries and private collections around the world, will have 16 of her pieces on permanent display at the Douglas Gallery.
She will be honored from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the gallery, 120 N. Wall.
In 1996, the Boeing Corp. commissioned her to make a bronze of Thailand’s Princess Mother, mother of two kings of Thailand. She also created “The Aviator” for the air museum in Oshkosh, Wis., and, more familiar to Spokane, “The Strongest Bond” for the Ronald McDonald House here and McDonald’s national headquarters in Chicago.
Fowler will donate a gift of bronze to the Spokane Symphony Associates Christmas Tree Elegance: “Child on Dolphin,” the first of a new series of “Children of the Sun.”
“Child on a Dolphin” will be raffled, with proceeds going to the symphony associates.
The works of Shari May, a Spokane resident, and Nick Payne of Republic, Wash., will be displayed at Colburn’s Art Gallery, 203 W. Riverside, Sunday through Dec. 6.
May is a representational artist and has won national acclaim in the medium of pastel. Recent awards have been presented by American Artists’ Professional League at the Salmugundi Club in New York City and the Pastel Society of America.
Payne has created a gallery of pastels with his Republic neighbors as his subjects, which is displayed in the lobby of a town bank. His showing at Colburn’s, however, will be landscapes and unusual closeups.
A reception will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.
A student-run exhibit featuring the works of Ted Rand will be at the Harriet Cheney Cowles Memorial Library on the Whitworth College campus Sunday through November.
Rand, illustrator of children’s books, will have 21 original prints displayed. He’s now working on his 44th picture book.
Rand’s illustrated books include “Prince William,” the “Salty Dog” series, “The Cabin Key,” “The Tree that Would Not Die” and “The Night Before Christmas.” He is a resident of Mercer Island.
Library hours are 7:45 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday; 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays; and 9 a.m. to noon Sundays.
The landscape and Native American figurative pastels of Spokane artist Thelma Giampietri will be displayed through December at the Twin Totems Art & Framing Gallery, 5117 E. Greenbluff in Colbert.
Around the region
Have you ever stood staring, fascinated, at Bev Doolittle’s works, consumed with searching for the hidden details which have become her signature?
Now’s the time to ask her how she manages such masterful camouflages.
Doolittle, touted these days as the world’s most popular artist in limited-edition print, will be at the Lyman Gallery & Fine Gifts, 642 Main in Lewiston, on Friday.
From 5 to 8 p.m., she will sign prints of her latest piece, “Music in the Wind.” She will also autograph copies of her books, “New Magic” and “The Art of Bev Doolittle,” as well as two posters, “A New Way of Seeing” and “Wilderness! Wilderness?” , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo